Share of Urban Population and Per Captita GDP in 2022
Major Cities in Asia (Nighttime Light Intensity in 2013)
Compare with Europe
The economic forces leading to urban formation/growth and their economic benefits:
Centripetal forces (pulling towards the center)
Natural advantages
Harbors, rivers
Central locations
Market-size
Access to markets (backward linkages)
Access to products (forward linkages)
Thick labor markets
Centrifugal forces (pushing away from the center)
Market-media forces
Commuting costs, urban land rent
Pull of dispersed resources
Non-market forces
Congestion
Pollution
Increasing Returns
source: Krugman (1994)
Administrative boundaries are not helpful (often harmful)
Population density is the most common measure but that is not sufficient
Source:
commons.wikimedia.org
Places of dense infrastructure without people are ghost-towns
Cities should me examined considering (i) population density, (ii) infrastructure density and (iii) mobility Keola (2018)
Lack of infrastructure
limited infrastructure development capacity
limited local industrial development
Spatial mismatch of people and infrastructure
Lack of intra- and inter-city mobility
Economic activities impacts on environment